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Scan 142
The Hawley Collection of violins, 1904
8 lines. Read by computer on 3 September 2026. Printed page 74. See the scan on archive.org.
1Chapter X
2Nicolas Lupot, 1758–1824
3The Hawley Lupot
5France, next to Italy, occupies the most prominent place in the history of the violin. The French are adapted by nature to the production of things requiring correct artistic conception of the beautiful, and they possess skill and deftness in execution. The art of making violins followed that of the art of the lute-maker in France as elsewhere in Europe, and in the middle of the sixteenth century, when Andrea Amati was completing his set of violins for King Charles IX., the first violins were appearing in France. The city of the Prince of Loraine, Nancy, claims the distinction of being the cradle of the luthier's art in France. It was many years afterward before the French makers were able to supply any considerable part of the French demand for violins, but by the middle of the eighteenth century the musical instrument makers' guild of Paris had become a powerful body. After the destruction by the British of the French fleet under Admiral de Grasse, April 12, 1782, when French sentiment was in doubt as to what influence the event might have in causing the government to withhold further help from the United States, the violin-makers of Paris "appeared in a patriotic dress, having contributed with two other corporations, seemingly affiliated with them, 20,000 of the 1,500,000 livres offered by the guilds to the king for the construction of a war vessel." As a result of the mother industry in Nancy, the violin-making art took deep root in the nearby town of Mirecourt in the Vosges, and this little city has ever since maintained the distinction of being the center of the French musical-instrument industry. It was not only the training school of most French makers, but was the birthplace of many as well. The French makers always adhered to the Italian models. In this respect they are unlike the English and the Germans, who deserted Cremonese forms and took up the model of Jacob Stainer, following it until the first part of the nineteenth century, when they were compelled, by the sheer merit and superiority of tone of the Italian instruments, to return to them. The early French makers may be divided into two classes—those who made cheap commercial violins, and those whose work has a decided artistic character. The makers of that period who to-day command especial recognition are Jacques Boquay, Claude Pierray, and Nicolas Augustin Chappuy. These makers worked after a moderately high arched model. They all used good wood and finished their work in an artistic manner. The first two used a very pleasing varnish of a brownish red shade, while Chappuy's, which is splendid, varies from a light to a dark golden color.
7There was another maker before the advent of Lupot whose work has not been given the notice it assuredly deserves. We refer to Andrea Castag-
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